1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaning apparatus. In another aspect, the present invention relates to a vibrating abrasive cleaning apparatus. In still another aspect, the present invention relates to a mobile vibrating abrasive cleaning apparatus.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
In the oil and gas industry, parts and equipment will many times become soiled with dirt, debris, chemicals and other contaminants.
Such soiled parts and equipment are generally cleaned utilizing a vibratory abrasive cleaning apparatus in which the items to be cleaned are contacted with an abrasive solvent cleaner while being subjected to vibratory action. The combination of the vibratory action and the abrasive solvent cleaner serve to remove the dirt, debris, chemical and other contaminants from the soiled part or equipment.
Vibrating abrasive cleaning apparatus are well known in the art.
For example, Brandt, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,997,813 and 2,997,814 discloses machines for the precision finishing of parts by controlled vibration.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,353,796, issued Nov. 21, 1967, to Roberts, discloses a vibratory burnishing system with metered feed that utilizes an arrangement of spindle and quill shafts and eccentric weights as the vibratory drive.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,411,248, issued Nov. 19, 1968, to Dwyer et al. discloses the cleaning of objects in vibrating equipment by spraying water and polishing material into a vibrating container to contact the objects to be cleaned.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,744, issued Feb. 25, 1969, to McCormick discloses a cleaning process in which objects are first subjected to a freeze-blast followed by vibratory cleaning.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,163, issued Sep. 2, 1969, to Ferrara discloses a vibratory finishing machine which utilized a vibratory drum containing finishing media.
Additionally, Musschoot discloses various types of vibratory apparatus in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,662,425, 4,709,507 and 4,926,601.
Other vibratory finishing or cleaning apparatus are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 949,709, 2,222,777, 3,173,664, 3,413,764, 3,637,190.
As the above patents show, many advances have been made in the field of vibratory devices for cleaning articles. However, increased environmental concerns have lead to the awareness of employing a device capable of cleaning an article in a combined solid and fluid mixture, wherein the residue is not discarded and will be environmentally reprocessed through the system. Additionally, during operation, the device must be a closed-loop system to avoid evaporation of environmentally harmful solvents to the atmosphere.
Conventional vibratory abrasive cleaning apparatus have failed to address environmental concerns by dumping the waste material that is cleaned or removed from the articles.
Additionally, the common practice is to gather articles to be cleaned and transport them to a common cleaning site where a vibratory abrasive cleaning apparatus is located. While it is desirable to have cleaning apparatus available for use in the field, currently, the known vibratory abrasive cleaning apparatus are too cumbersome to be easily transportable.
In attempt to overcome some of these prior art concerns, commonly assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 08/016,724, herein incorporated by reference, was filed Feb. 11, 1993 and discloses a vibrating abrasive cleaning apparatus. However, while the apparatus of the '724 application fulfills most of the prior art concerns, the disclosed apparatus is not as transportable as is desired.
Thus it is an object of the present invention to provide an easily transportable vibratory abrasive cleaning apparatus that addresses the environmental deficiencies of the prior art.